Country Cowboy Christmas Treasury

It always is such a nice surprise to be included in someones Treasury. This one is titled Country Cowboy Christmas and deusprovidebit. This is a beautiful treasury with snowmen and snowflakes. Candles and gingerbread soap which looks like fudge and I'm sure smells heavenly. I think my favorite is the Birch Bark Gift Tags by rusticblend. Very simple but also very cute. Thanks so much to Gramma Harv and Terry for including me!
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=93887

One of my favorite quotes

I don't know who said this, but it is still one of my favorites. " To be an artist includes much; one must possess many gifts - absolute gifts - which have not been acquired by one's own effort. And, moreover, to succeed, the artist must possess the courageous soul. "

Creativity on a cold morning

Sometimes creativity is difficult. I suppose if it was easy then there would be no reason to create. Being an artist is gift and we are "born to make manifest the glory of God within us." But why is it that some mornings I just don't want to. We had our first frost and that means that it is cold in my studio. It's like I am a 4 year old throwing a fit.
But I think all this superficial junk is just fear. What if I was a successful artist? What would my life be like? There are so many stories of artists or musicians or actors who loose their way and end up in a terrible place or even dead. There aren't many stories about artists who lead happy, healthy lives.
The only way to deal with this fear is just by showing up. By going down to my studio and starting a fire and turning the heat on. And then just start something. Who cares if it turns out wonderful or in the dumpster. And by holding on to the dream or going to work just down the hill from my house. A short commute to my studio and days filled with creativity. Hold onto my dream and find the joy in the small things in life.

Vacation

So I'm back from my 1,800 mile trip. I went all the way to Minnesota and back. We had such a great time. I saw all of my family and about 987 lakes. :) I bought a pair of hot pink cowboy boots for my niece's 5th birthday. They have a horse and stars on the side and they light up when she walks in them. They were a hit, though she wore them all day without socks and got blisters on the bottom of her feet. She also received hot pink golf clubs. So we spent some time in our boots golfing on the front lawn. It was lots of fun, but I think we both need more practice. Now I need to gear up for Halloween. I have tons of new fabric for cloaks and I need to sew, sew, sew. Of course I might pretend that today is my last day of vacation and finish this great book that I'm reading!!

Custom made cloaks

This custom made cloak is reversible in the hot pink and orange. The fabric was a funny spandex polyester and I had some problems sewing it. I tried so many different needles and setting on my machine. I had to sew most of it 2 or 3 times because it just wasn't sewing right. I think it turned out great and I love the colors.

Custom made cloaks

I just finished nine custom made cloaks. This first one is a hip length white panne velvet. It has a lined hood, ties at the neck, and two inches of gold trim. I had a problem deciding how to put the gold on. I finally cut the cloak two inches shorter and then sewed the right sides together. It flipped down and then I top stitched it. I'll be listing the other 8 in all the cool fabrics in the next week.

The old into the new

I saw this book (can't remember the title now) about taking old clothing and turning it into something new. It had some great stuff and gave me some great ideas. I had these two skirts that were so cute, but they didn't fit. So I had this idea to turn them into capelets. I started by cutting up the seam where the zipper was. Then I took the zipper out, serged the seams and then sewed the edge down. My biggest problem was how to do the neck. I finally decided on just taking some tucks. I sewed all of those down and then I thought about putting a ribbon on. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, so I just put a little hidden hook and eye at the neck. It turned out so cute. And I only threw away just a little tiny amount of fabric. Find it here http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28283047
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